Patient Autonomy

There are more than 250,000 people in the U.S. at the end stages of heart failure. Of those about 15% are in critical need of a heart transplant. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) tightly regulates organ transplant…

As recently as the 1960s, physicians made almost every decision for patients, informing them of their choices and rationale. Now, the paternalistic era of “doctor knows best,” one aligning with the ethical principle of beneficence, has been largely replaced by…